AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
Nathan
I am one minute away from finding out if my life is going to change forever.
Literally. The timer on the counter is ticking off the seconds.
And that life change is going to affect three other people. Who are all crowded into my bathroom with me at the moment.
This isn’t exactly how I ever pictured getting life altering news.
Of course, I never pictured getting this particular news in my life at all.
I’ve seen these moments in movies and television shows. The ones where the couple has the pregnancy test beside them, and they’re waiting for the timer to ring and tell them the happy—or terrible, depending on their perspective and the situation—news.
But for me, I’ve always known I couldn’t have children, so I’ve somehow automatically put that all into the category of Things That Happen to Other People.
Like flying in economy, or shopping at Wal-Mart.
Suddenly Danielle laughs quietly, and I swing around from where I’ve paced to the door again.
She’s sitting on the counter next to the four pregnancy tests I bought just under an hour ago. When the love of my life said she needed a test to see if we’re going to have a baby, of course I bought four. That’s reasonable. I almost bought ten. But I want to be sure about this. My heart rate hasn’t slowed since her words sunk in and…fuck…the hope keeps growing.
I need to get it together. Because if these tests aren’t positive, I’m going to be a mess.
I want this so much it’s actually concerning me. I knew, deep down, that I wanted this to happen for us, eventually. My girlfriend having two other boyfriends does have some perks. But I thought it would be down the road. Danielle’s young. I had no idea when she’d be ready for kids and I was not going to push.
But now…I swallow. I definitely need to get it together. This could be a stomach bug.
Right now, it would be easy to believe that she’s just ill. She’s pale, and her eyes are red-rimmed, and she hasn’t said a word for nearly ten minutes. She’s just been following Michael’s instructions for the tests and to eat some crackers and drink some water.
Michael is leaning against the counter next to her. Crew is sitting on the edge of the huge jacuzzi tub across from her. They also look concerned by her suddenly hysterical-sounding laughter.
"You okay?" Michael asks her.
She gives him a sweet smile. "Yep."
Michael moves to stand right in front of her. He lifts a hand and cups her cheek. "We’re right here."
She nods and squeezes his wrist. Then she looks at Crew and finally at me. "I’m really okay."
I start to reply, but the timer on my phone goes off and we all jump.
I immediately reach for the closest test, the one she took first. I hold my breath and look down.
My heart falls to my stomach. My chest tightens and for a second I have a hard time swallowing.
Finally I choke out, "Negative."
Fuck.
Okay, this isn’t the end of the world. It’s not the end of this journey. It wasn’t even the start. This was all a surprise. None of us were planning on a pregnancy right now. Michael and I have only just proposed to her. We’re just getting started.
It’s okay.
Still, I’m so much more disappointed than I’d expected.
Danielle’s head whips around to look at me.
